


No man is an island, entire of itself

by bennet_7



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-03
Updated: 2011-10-03
Packaged: 2017-10-24 07:07:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/260483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bennet_7/pseuds/bennet_7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur has friends, family, and interests outside of helping Cobb.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No man is an island, entire of itself

**Author's Note:**

> \- For the inception_kink prompt: Fandom's aversion to writing OC while understandable produces as a side effect characters who are unrealistically isolated. This is true of all characters (write me ALL the fic!) but I find Arthur is the one often deliberately portrayed as so dependent on the Cobbs he's not allowed any outside interaction until Ariadne comes along to be his BFF + whatever character is the chosen love interest. I suppose valid characterisation but not what I want.
> 
> Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write about the people Arthur interacts with who are not the Inception team. I want stories of Arthur's army buddies(or whoever) going out for drinks. Tell me who is Cobb sending his regards to when he and Arthur discuss splitting up on the roof right before Saito shows up. What is Arthur like with his contacts (he's the intel guy he must have those, right?), is he tolerated as necessary evil or does he have trusted friends among them? He totally flirts with the cashier at the corner shop, right? Maybe Arthur is trying to integrate Ariadne into his circle of friends, how's that going? You can have whatever parings you want with it just let there be other people in existence.
> 
> \- Posted on LJ [here](http://bennet-7.livejournal.com/90438.html).

Mike's been at the embassy for eight months now and in that time he's acquired a love of Duck confit, cream sauces, and the less expensive vintages from Château Mouton Rothschild.

Arthur raises an eyebrow at his waist and tells him that it shows. Mike tosses a chunk of baguette at his head, challenges him to finish the bottle, and then they'll see who can run from Pont de Bir-Hakeim to Pont Rouelle the fastest.

Arthur wins but they both get disapproving glares from the Gardien de la paix at the finish line. He bites his lip to keep from laughing out loud but can't keep his body from shaking as Mike talks their way out of trouble by invoking almost every cliché about ignorant Americans abroad.

"We're doing the Da Vinci Code tour of Paris!"

"We're desperate for Starbucks."

"Do you know where we can find a McDonald's?"

Muttering about stupid Americans, the police send them on their way with a verbal warning. Arthur keeps a straight face but snaps off a salute once their backs are turned.

"I think Sergeant Mannering would be proud of us," Mike opines, his face upturned to the midnight sky of Paris.

"Yeah, you're doing a great job of improving Franco-American relations."

The next day Ariadne wishes him a good morning and asks if he had a good night. He tells her honestly that for the first time in months he did.

***

Joanna calls him while he's picking up coffee for everyone, asking, "What time is it where you are? _Where_ is it you are?"

"Switzerland," he lies, because it's geographically close to the truth.

"Searching for Nazi gold?"

"Looking into the security flaws of a multinational corporation," and it's basically the truth.

"Ah," she says, implying with just the tone of her voice that his job is ridiculous and boring and she's given up trying to understand it.

"Listen, I called because Mom wants a loom for her birthday."

"A loom," he repeats slowly, taking back his change from the girl across the counter. He doesn't pick up the coffees yet. "Why does she want to take up weaving?"

"I think she read something about the benefits of making your own clothing. Whether those benefits are environmental, spiritual, or medicinal...well, I really didn't care to find out."

"I'll look into it."

"Magnus and Ivy want to go in too so we'll split the cost four ways."

"Magnus and Ivy have money? I thought Magnus was saving for a new van so the band can go on tour and isn't Ivy in Chile? She may think she's got a small fortune there but it won't be much when converted back to the dollar."

"I don't know, they say they do. Weirder things have happened."

"Mom's cheese making period, for instance." They both chuckle; time had made it funny.

"So," he says after a moment of silence across the line. "How are you?"

She takes a deep breath and then exhales. "I'm fine. I swear, I'm fine."

"And Toby, Scarlett, and Riley?"

"Toby became a surly teenager overnight and _that's_ fun but the other two are happy and they're all healthy so I can't complain."

The coffee has cooled a little by the time he gets back to the warehouse but Yusuf still accepts it gratefully and remarks that he would have lingered in the warm sun too.

***

 _To: schrodingersemail@gmail.com  
From: T.Molloy@fhyiop.org_

 _Subject: Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope_

 _Hey,_

 _I just clipped Marisol's car in the parking lot. I apologised and told her I'd take care of the damage but she's been really tense lately and I feel compelled to buy her something bright and shiny._

 _What do I get her?_

 _Also: hi, how are you, hope you're well, have you seen the final episode of 'Lost' yet and can we talk about when [person] did [action] and [thing] happened?_

 _Travis_

 _P.S.: May have made breakthrough with regards to sedative._

 _To: T.Molloy@fhyiop.org  
From: schrodingersemail@gmail.com _

_Subject: Re: Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope_

 _Hi,_

 _I'm fine, but busy, and no, I haven't seen 'Lost' yet. How are you (aside from the car thing) and how's everyone at Foster?_

 _I realise that you set me up to reply with a certain 'Star Wars' quote but I'm not giving you the satisfaction. It's been done to death, man._

 _As for Marisol, I wouldn't get her anything bright or shiny unless it's a lamp. She's not one for jewellery and it'd be weird coming from a co-worker, even if you did ding her car. Maybe get her a voucher to Toscano's. Don't skimp, make sure it's enough for mains and dessert for two and a bottle of wine._

 _Good luck with it,_

 _Arthur_

 _P.S.: Any chance you'd send your findings my way?_

 _To: schrodingersemail@gmail.com  
From: T.Molloy@fhyiop.org_

 _Subject: Re: Re: Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope_

 _Hey,_

 _The restaurant thing's a good idea but I don't know why you'd think I'd be cheap._

 _Also: telling people to use the force will never be old._

 _Aside from the car thing, everything has been fine although my landlord is being a dick about this cleaning solution I created. It didn't dissolve that much of the grout._

 _It's a bit quiet at Foster at the moment. The departments don't talk enough so things happen slowly and Kenrick's trying to do a million things at once (made difficult by the bad communication). It's nice not having so many students on campus._

 _Are you going to be home any time soon? It's been a couple of months. People ask about you._

 _Travis_

 _P.S.: You don't work here anymore. I haven't read the rules but I'm pretty sure that would be against them._

 _To: T.Molloy@fhyiop.org  
From: schrodingersemail@gmail.com _

_Subject: Re: Re: Re: Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope_

 _Hi Travis,_

 _"I don't know why you'd think I'd be cheap."_

 _Empirical evidence._

 _I hate sounding like a broken record but you need to buy a place, especially if you want to clean things with acid. I can give you the name of the realtor I used if you like._

 _I should be home next month and if things work out I may be sticking around for a while. Everything is up in the air at the moment._

 _Give my best to Kenrick and everyone else._

 _Arthur_

 _P.S.: I find your lack of faith disturbing._

 

Eames wanders past his desk and asks him why he's smiling. Arthur raises his hand and tells him that he's not the co-worker he's looking for.

***

"You've called 6507239843. Leave a message after the tone."

"Um, hi, this is a message for Arthur Lynch? It's Suzanne Cleghorn calling from the Florence Mitchell Gallery. We, uh, met a couple of months ago? Anyway, I'm just calling to let you know about our upcoming exhibition. The artist is a recent discovery of ours but we're anticipating her work to sell quickly. You will be receiving an invitation to the opening night in the post but I--we wanted to call too. We hope we see you there!

Oh, and her work is mixed media surrealism. Mustn't forget to tell you that!

Okay. Have a nice day."

He laughs quietly to himself but tucks his phone away when Saito hands him a briefcase full of Euros and tells him it's for the most recent expenses.

***

Arthur has keyed Kenrick's number seventeen times without pressing 'call' over the past few months. He's wanted to talk to him about Cobb, about Mal, about the version of Mal in Cobb's head, but he knows that Kenrick would twist the conversation around until they were talking about him and Arthur really doesn't want to stop and take stock of his situation in life because he's pretty sure he'd question everything then.

He knows that Kenrick is disappointed he left. A part of Arthur regrets his actions over the past two years, too. He hopes that if they pull this job off and Cobb gets to go home it will all be worth it but there are moments late at night where he doubts that will be the case. It's easier to ignore those doubts when you don't talk to a psychiatrist with thirty years experience.

He looks up and sees Cobb preparing to dream under Yusuf's supervision. It's good that Cobb is working on suppressing Mal or maybe he's actually confronting his issues: Arthur doesn't know. Cobb hasn't been sharing much lately and it makes Arthur miss those early days of experimentation and research in the army and later, at Foster, when they put their theories to the test. There was always a team then with Cobb, Mal, and Kenrick at the core and others besides. But now Mal's gone and they left Kenrick behind and Cobb's only got one foot in reality these days.

His runs his thumb over the call button and presses 'cancel' instead. The number disappears and that makes eighteen. Arthur sends a silent apology to his mentor and looks at Cobb.

 _We'll get this done and then we'll go home._

***


End file.
